MAC HEROINE IS BACK, PERMANENTLY!

I’m sure all you makeup lovers know by now that MAC has decided to bring back our gorgeous Heroine Shade permanently!

This is a bright purple, matte shade.

I was at the MAC store on Dec 12, 2013 purchasing my RIRI Hearts Holiday Collection when I was told that it was in store that day for purchase. Later I found out that they sold it to me accidently.

The actual dates for Heroine’s relaunch are as follows:

United States:

Pre-launch on Dec. 16, 2013 on maccosmetics.com and available for purchase in MAC Stores and Counters Jan. 2, 2014

International:

Available online Jan. 16, 2014, In stores March 6, 2014

I got lucky picking up two Heroine’s that day, and boy am I glad I was able to. I’ve never owned this color before and didn’t purchase it with the previous launches. This time I knew I wasn’t going to miss out!

If you haven’t gotten your hands on this lipstick, go purchase it now! You can also get free 2 day shipping by using the code “FAST” on maccosmetics.com

MAC RIRI HOLIDAY COLLECTION HAUL & URBAN DECAY NAKED 3

MAC RIRI HOLIDAY COLLECTION

I previously wrote about my online order from maccosmetics.com that had came in..and yesterday was the day of the store launch. I was able to grab a couple more items and now I have everything that I wanted from the RiRi Holiday Collection. I bought the Pleasure Bomb Lipstick, Bad Girl RiRi Lipstick, Eyeliner-Cockiness, Eyeliner-Pisces Perfusion, & the Bronzing Powder-Love, Rihanna. 
I didn't have to wait in line for more than 15 mins, but I did have to go to several stores opening at different times in order to get the rest of my collection. I decided to pass up the Rose Gold bag. It is one pretty bag, but seriously not worth my $40. 
My skin tone is a olive color, and I wear NC/NW30 in MAC Foundation. Here is how the lipsticks/bronzer looked again'st my complexion. I felt the bronzer gave me a soft warmth on my cheeks instead of a orangey color that some people have been talking about. I honestly LOVE this bronzer!
Did you guys get anything from this collection? If so, please comment below!

URBAN DECAY- NAKED 3

This palette is just gorgeousssssss! I have the Naked 2 Palette, and this is completely different! Its as if Urban Decay stays with their neutral range whenever they bring out their Naked Palette, and they add the new colors into their neutrals. This time, the Naked 3 contains more rose gold shades and trust me, rose gold is what is IN right now!!! Its crazy beautiful. It has some matte shades, and some shimmery ones. The shades are: Strange (matte), Dust, Burnout, Limit (matte), Buzz, Trick, Nooner (matte), Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, & Blackout.
My favorite is Blackout (because of the red shimmer it has inside)- you can play it up with evening looks with this darker shade. I can combine this darker shade to create a number of different looks! Just an amazing, amazing palette. I thought it was going to be like the other Naked 3 palettes, but it totally isn't. Well worth the $. Here are the swatches:

Hope you guys got your hands on this gorgeous palette!!!

MACCOSMETICS.COM ORDER CAME IN TODAY! (Quick Overview)

My order came in!!! I gotta say, the shipping was super fast for this being ordered on Thursday. I ended up getting 3 separate orders, one with Pleasure Bomb Lipstick, the Bronzing Powder and Eyeliner in Pisces Persuasion. My second order contained one Bronzer, and my 3rd contained my 2nd Pleasure Bomb Lipstick. I wasn't able to get Bad Girl RiRi since it was sold out. But hey, 1 outta 2 isn't bad for their crazy waiting room! 

I am going to try and get my hands on Bad Girl RiRi this coming Thursday, and i'll have another post coming up with swatches. I do love the packaging though, definitely more sleeker and heavier than the RiRi Fall Collection (which seemed more plastic to me). I haven't tried the bronzer yet but i'm hoping it doesn't look too orangey for my skin tone, otherwise its going back-no matter how much I love the packaging. The lipsticks packaging seems the same to me as the fall collection, with the exception of the pearly white color. 

The white eyeliner I wish was a bit more opaque, but we'll see. It doesn't show that well. 

So thats for my quick overview. I promise there is another post to come with swatches and more personal reviews after using the product. 

If you decide to pick up any items from this collection, be at your local Macys, Nordstroms, Bloomingdales, or MAC stores bright and early. They will be launching in stores this Thursday, Dec 12th. Nordstrom doesn't have holiday hours and they open at 10 am CST like every other day. Other stores might be opening early, so be call to check before you pick a store to go to! 

Note: Don't forget to share what you were able to snag from this collection below!

NARS "ITA" Brush for Contouring

I had been on the search for the perfect contour brush for a while now and I have bought several since my search started....only to be disappointed because the blending I just couldn't get down. I knew exactly where the product went on the face but in the end of it all, i'd just end up looking muddy. The bronzing powder I was trying to use to contour was the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil (not the milk chocolate one). I have heard many good things about this too faced product when it came to contouring and I honestly thought this would be a breeze! Boy was I wrong...! So after watching several you tube guru videos on contouring I came down to the fact that I was buying the wrong type of brushes. Every brush I had bought was dense. That was the problem! The denseness in the brush was what was causing my contour not to blend out smoothly...in the end making me look muddy. 
Now a couple months back I had heard about the NARS Ita Brush (which is discontinued). But I was not willing to drop $36 on just one brush. That is why I went on this mission to find and purchase alternative brushes that wouldn't break the bank. I had heard about a Sonia Kashuk brush used for contouring sold at target, which was also discontinued so I was unable to find it anywhere. 
I finally caved, and bought the NARS Ita Brush from Amazon (hey at least I didn't have to pay for taxes, and I got prime shipping!). It costed me a flat $36. I was a bit hesitant but hoped that this brush would work! I am SO SO glad I purchased this brush. It is worth every penny because on the very first try I nailed it! My contour came out perfect! I didn't expect this to happen at all! I am just so happy that it was the actual brush that I was getting wrong, and not my technique. 

If you are in the market for a contour brush, definitely go get the NARS Ita. As per my knowledge, it is sold online at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and on Amazon. 

I give it a 5 stars!! I cannot say enough good things about this brush. It is soft, blends like a dream, and has that NARS rubbery quality to it on the handles.
I am one satisfied customer! 

UPDATE: RIRI MAC HOLIDAY COLLECTION 2013 RELEASE

Well, what a morning I had!  I tried to get my hands on this collection and purchase at least one of each lipstick color (Bad Girl Riri & Pleasure Bomb), a bronzing powder (Love, Rihanna), and both of the eyeliners (Cockiness & Pisces Persuasion). I was on their website starting 10:30am CST but I had to run to the bathroom like at 10:55 AM. Who knew they would start their waiting room at 10:57 AM!!! >:( I got in their waiting room at 10:58 AM and was able to purchase some of their items. I know many people weren't even aware that they started their waiting room 3 mins early. Which is why they sell out so quick, and people who expect the release to start at 11 AM CST don't get their items. Heck, I wasn't even able to get all of the items even though I logged into their waiting room a minute late.

The items I was able to purchase are:
Pleasure Bomb Lipstick
Eyeliner in Pisces Persuasion
Bronzing Powder (Love, Rihanna)

(sorry about my phone's reflection!!)

I REALLLLLLLY wanted the rose gold eyeliner called Cockiness, but ah well..! I will be getting myself into the stores first thing in the morning on the day of their store release December 12th, 2013 which is exactly one week from today.

I would suggest calling your stores ahead of time to make sure what time they open to make sure you get the items you want.

RIHANNA RIRI HEARTS MAC HOLIDAY COLLECTION 2013- Launches online Dec 5th! 12 PM EST

Are you guys excited?! I know I am! Rihanna's new Holiday collection collaborated with Mac comes out tonight at 12 PM EST. Rihanna + MAC I believe has came out with three different collections this year and this will be her final one. The fall one had special rose gold packaging. The holiday collection will have White Pearl Packaging with RiRi's rose gold detailing. 

The details on the products launched are below: 

Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow ($44.00 U.S./$52.50 CDN)- LIMITED EDITION

• Phresh Out
• 2x Dare

Superslick Eyeliner ($20.50 U.S./$25.00 CDN)- LIMITED EDITION

• Pisces Persuasion Shimmery white (Frost)
• Cockiness Shimmery rose gold (Frost)

Lipstick ($16.50 U.S./$20.00 CDN)- LIMITED EDITION

• Pleasure Bomb Matte Fuschia (Matte)
• Riri Woo Matte cool red (Retro Matte)
• Bad Girl Riri Matte Taupey Nude (Matte)

Bronzing Powder ($30.00 U.S./$35.00 CDN)-LIMITED EDITION

• Love, Rihanna Soft Golden Brown with Gold Pearl

RiRi Hearts MAC Makeup Bag ($40.00 U.S./$48.00 CDN)-LIMITED EDITION

Nail Lacquer ($17.50 U.S./$21.00 CDN)- LIMITED EDITION

• RiRi Woo Matte Cool Red (Cream)

Brush ($35.00 U.S./$42.00 CDN)- LIMITED EDITION

• 217/239SE Double Ended Brush

If you plan on getting your hands on any of these items, you gotta be quick as their waiting room fills up quickly and items sell out left and right!! And since all the above items are Limited Edition, once it sells out it won't come back. 

Good Luck!

BLACK FRIDAY 2013 FASHION HAUL!!!

As many of you guys know, Black Friday just passed! Right after thanksgiving, stores were opening as early as 6 pm for some awesome deals. I will admit though, I did most of my black friday shopping online this year so I wasn't as eager to get to the mall. BUT, as crazy as I am for this one day in the whole year...I had to go check the stores out!!! I left my place around 5 pm to get to walmart first. (*I know, I know..I'm seriously crazy to go to walmart!! the busiest of all the stores),  but when I got there it wasn't THAT busy. I mean the parking lot was full but inside it wasn't like people had to push each other just to get to the next aisle. Last year was horrible, but this year was very doable. I bought a couple of items i.e. nightgowns for my kids and some washcloths and sheet sets. I was very happy about the 700 thread count sheet sets for $24.95!!

After Walmart, I went to Best Buy, and then Old Navy. I did find a ton of clothes at Old Navy! I bought these two gorgeous sweaters that are like cape type that you can wear with leggings and knee high boots. I found a grey and a tan colored one. Since everything was 50% off in store, I got each sweater for $20! Score!! I also found two knit scarves for $7 each (one in black, and one in grey) and some jewelry (a thick braided gold necklace and two pairs of bow earrings).

The next morning, I decided to wake up early and hit the mall at 8 am. I barely had gotten sleep the night before, but I was eager to see what the mall had! When I got there, it was not busy at all. I went to Yankee Candle and picked up 20 of their Calm Tumbler Candles. I seriously needed to stock up and I'm in love with their Aromatherapy candles. Then I went to American Eagle, and picked up a bracelet and necklace. From Sephora I picked up the $10 Dealtopia Buxom Lip/Mascara (lip color: Anastasia) set and the $10 Ole Henrikson Clean Sweep Dup (face wash with cleansing wipes). I also picked up face oil by Ole Henrikson since I didn't like the Tarte Pure Maracuja Oil I bought last month. After Sephora I headed to H&M and barely found anything good there. I ended up getting a $5 black shirt which I don't like as much.

So thats basically it! Oh and from Express.com I bought a couple of sweaters and a pair of camo leggings (which I'd been wanting for a while now!! The material on the leggings are the stretchy type but feel like cotton, LOVE!!)
I'll breakdown how much my sweaters/legging were. My camo leggings-Small: $14.83, Studded White Sweater-Small: $25.46, Black Sweater with gold studded sleeves-Small: $25.46, Red Sweater with stars-Small: $25.46, Grey Leopard Sweater-XS: $25.46, White/Black Sequined sweater-Small: $25.46
I also got free shipping so it made for a pretty good deal.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my purchases. I mean a girl can go on and on and shop til she drops but I had to stop at a certain point!!! I was going way over budget. I really want the Naked 3 palette that just came out this week, but i'm going to wait on this one for a bit.

I hope you enjoyed by BF Haul, and please do let me know what you guys scored on black friday!!! I would love to hear about it!